Are We Watching the Last Days of the Nation-State?

In an interview with Casey Research, Doug Casey outlines why it is he believes that the days of the nation-state are numbered. A lot of his thoughts echo many of the things I’ve been saying, as well as (hopefully) showing through the types of news and information I highlight on iState.TV.

Technology is ever developing in favor of individuals and free associations, while nation-states continue to ossify and get more and more top-heavy from the fossilized bureaucracy they’ve been building up for hundreds of years, ready to collapse from the weight of their own to-heavy, lumbering head.

…..In every country, citizens have much less freedom than they did 100 years ago. The number of laws and regulations has exploded. Equally bad, the income tax is everywhere—it didn’t exist almost anywhere before the 19th century. Even worse, money everywhere is now just a fiction. Before the early 20th century money was completely international. It was gold, which was accepted everywhere. And in those days you didn’t need a passport—just enough money to travel and maintain yourself.

The standard of living was lower in those days. But things have improved because of technology, despite government draining capital away from enterprises, and misallocating it for political purposes.

Technology has advanced tremendously over the last hundred years. But a lot of people conflate the increase in standards of living with the growth of governments. Governments have grown not because they created new wealth, but because they’ve confiscated wealth and used it against their subjects.

But now most of them are bankrupt—even though they’ve taken taxes from trivial levels to monstrous levels. Even with the huge additional amounts they’ve stolen by inflating their currencies, they’re still bankrupt. I suspect we’re reaching the end game—but that’s another story.

So, you’re right. Freedom has been in decline throughout the world. I mean you can’t even arm yourself today without getting permission from the State. And, historically, a major sign of a free man was his right to be armed. Snowflakes, cupcakes, and SJWs are afraid to be armed; they have a slave mentality.

It’s disturbing and the situation is getting worse; this is all going to come apart. We’re going to have a crisis that reconstitutes everything in a new form. The US peaked in the ’50s, has been in decline since the ’70s, and its descent is accelerating. Actually, Western Civilization peaked just before World War One, and it’s in even bigger trouble. That’s a real tragedy, since about 98% of everything of value in the world is a product of it.

Paul Gordon is the publisher and editor of iState.TV. He has published and edited newspapers, poetry magazines and online weekly magazines.
He is the director of Social Cognito, an SEO/Web Marketing Company. You can reach Paul at pg@istate.tv